Theta Jewel Honaker

Theta Jewel Honaker was born January 25, 1934, in Jacksonville, Texas to Albert Bryan Hix and Ethel Naomi Scott.

They couldn't have picked a more fitting middle name for her. She truly was a jewel.

Theta recalled memories of gathering eggs on her Scott grandparent’s farm and seeing the big hogs her Hix grandparents raised. She remembered helping to pick cotton, putting her harvest in a miniature cotton bag she could sling over her shoulder that her mother made for her, fashioned after the large ones the adults wore. Her mother milked the cow. Theta had a soft spot for animals and had a special collie dog she named Laddie that she was very fond of.

Her daddy was an assistant southern Baptist minister. When they moved to California during the war, they attended the Southern Baptist Church in Long Beach California.

Most people came to California from other places. Theta said: “When we first moved to California, the community had Texas parties, and parties for people from other states. That way you could get acquainted with people who came from where you did.”

Theta always claimed Texas and was proud she was from there. In her childhood, they traveled back to Texas about every four years.

Theta said when she was a kid and her family traveled back to Texas to visit from California, her mother used to cook their meals along the way in a cast iron skillet. They would stop alongside the road somewhere. They would build a fire, and her mother cooked their dinner. They brought cots and her dad would sleep outside the car. She couldn’t remember where her mother slept. The kids slept in the car. It was great fun for the kids.

Life in California was much different than in Texas. There was no more farm, and they had to get used to the busy city. Her mother still had chickens, and her daddy started raising rabbits, and they still grew a large garden, but there were no more cotton fields or cows to milk.

Theta enjoyed her childhood in California. In junior high, she met Clarence Edgar (Ed) Honaker and that began a four-year courtship.

Ed and Theta were married after graduating from high school on August 15, 1953. Theta went to work for Local Loan Company, doing clerical work. She worked there until her first child David, was born followed by Peggy.

Three months after Ed and Theta were married, they were involved in a serious car accident and Ed couldn’t work for a while. There was a lay-off at work, and since Ed hadn’t worked for several weeks, he was laid off.

It was Theta’s boss at Local Loan, who, when he found out Ed had art training, got him a job with Douglas Aircraft in the drafting dept. Ed was there for 15 years.

Ed had roots in Cortez, CO, so he would often remark that when he retired, he wanted to move there. Theta told him he’d better move now before the kids grew up and established themselves in California. So, in 1969, the Honaker family sold their home and moved to Colorado, settling in Pleasant View.

Theta applied for jobs in Cortez as a secretary without success. She was encouraged to apply as a cook at Pleasant View School, a job she kept for 22 years, working many of those years with Bessie White, and thoroughly enjoying it.

A tragedy in Theta’s life was the loss of her husband Ed on October 19, 1990. Not one to feel sorry for herself, Theta kept herself busy with family, friends and church. She liked to travel and went on many memorable trips. She served faithfully in her church and was always interested in her children and grandchildren’s lives, hosting many family dinners throughout the years. Her enchiladas were legendary.

After a 5-year battle with dementia, Theta was finally taken home on July 22, 2025, at the age of 91, in Cortez, Colorado.

Theta was preceded in death by her husband, Ed Honaker, her parents, Bryan and Naomi Hix, and her sisters, Dorothy Sorrells and Thelma Bowman and her son-in-laws Mark Reed and Randy Winter. She is survived by her son, David (Colleen) Honaker, daughter Peggy Winter, six grandchildren: Deanna Honaker, Lana Mikkelson, Trena Decker, Wayne Honaker, Allan Winter, Justin Winter, and 21 great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister Nelda Bankhead (Spokane, WA) and brother William (Kathy) Hix (Buckeye, AZ) and numerous nieces and nephews.

Theta was loved by all who knew her. She was truly a person of faith, who loved the Lord and delighted in serving others.

The family would like to thank Valley Jean Williford and Tiffany Rose for their excellent and compassionate care of Theta and more recently, they would like to thank Hospice of Montezuma as well.

A memorial service will be held at First Baptist Church in Cortez Colorado on Monday, July 28 ,2025, at 1 p.m. Interment will be the following Tuesday, July 29, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. at Sylvan Cemetery in Pleasant View, Colorado.